VotersWill

Congress party is trying to get suggestions from the public for drafting its 2019 election manifesto

There is no doubt , other parties will pretend to be doing the same , to give voters a feeling of having “ participated / contributed “ in the preparation of a deceptively disguised “ Statement of Intention “

All political leaders know that no one is ever going to read that document or refer to it during the next 5 years !

They also know that people not only have short memory but they are unusually forgiving !

Conducted by online and offline media / political parties / Policy Think Tanks etc , opinion polls have been around for years – especially just before the polls .

These might have influenced the “ Voters “ to vote for or against a particular party / candidate

But these have miserably failed in “ directing / instructing “ those MPs and MLAs who get elected , to vote for or against a particular resolution in Lok Sabha / State Legislatures

Now , it seems technology may manage to empower the voters to “ direct “ those MPs / MLAS to vote the way they “ want “ him / her to vote !

Just think of the legislature as a “ Stage “ where a drama gets played and those MPs / MLAs as “ Actors “ playing out a “ Script “ handed to them

Read about that technology at :

MIT invites you to control a human on Halloween 

Extract :

Would you like to control another human being and experience what it would be like to be inside their mind?

Massachusetts Institute of Technology has built a software program called BeeMe that enables web users to suggest actions for a hired actor to perform.

[ On Halloween night (10/31/2018) at 11pm ET, an actor will give up their free will and let Internet users control their every action  ]

Dear Shri Ravi Shankar Prasadji,

Through your mobile app UMANG , in a short span of one year , you have managed to deliver some 313 services , through 69 apps in 17 states

Very commendable  !

Now how about modifying UMANG in following way :

·         Links users’ Mobile phones with their respective MPs / MLAs

·         Flash on the voters’ mobiles , each proposed resolution requiring voting by MP / MLA

·         Enables each Voter to “ direct / instruct “ his / her MP , to vote “ for “ or “ against “

·         Aggregates “ FOR / AGAINST “ votes polled by UMANG from all voters,

#  MP ( or MLA ) wise

#  Party-wise

#  Overall ( for all Members put together )

·         Publish these results on the web sites of Lok Sabha / Parties / MPs and MLAs

Irrespective of weather the majority of the voters desired “ FOR “ or “ AGAINST “ any given resolution, voters do not expect a MP / MLA to go against the whip of the party to which he / she belongs

But at least this mechanism would provide the MPs / MLAs / Parties , a QUANTIFIED MEASURE of the wishes of the voters and become “ sensitive “ to their wishes

And the voters will get an opportunity to question their elected representatives !

Dear Shri Ravi Shankar Prasadji,

If it is not possible to modify UMANG as suggested above , I urge BJP to develop such an App ( to be called , VotersWill  ?  ) on its own and launch it by next month

That will be a proof of BJP’s desire / willingness to concretize its concepts of :

·         From Main to Hum

·         Subka Saath, Subka Vikas

Immediate launch of VotersWill , will convince the 900 million voters that BJP holds itself answerable / accountable to the people , whether in power or in opposition

It is only through such conviction / trust that BJP can hope for 400 + seats in 2019  !

03  Nov  2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Ritesh is not afraid

Ritesh Agarwal [ ritesh@oyorooms.com ] ,

is not afraid to be ridiculed

He just launched OYO Living, as per following report :

Oyo enters long-term housing rentals space 

Extract :

Budget hospitality firm OYO on Monday announced its entry into ‘OYO Living’ a long term fully managed housing rentals. Starting with ₹ 7999, per bed, per month, OYO Living will help residents save on brokerage, lock-in periods, and the hassle of searching house helps and support services involved while moving to a new residence.

OYO Living will have around 35 live properties with over 2000 beds in Noida, Gurugram, Bengaluru and Pune at the time of launch. OYO Living will aim to expand to the top 10 metros by the end of 2019 and will offer over 50,000 beds, said the official statement.

A smart move , considering that Mumbai Metropolitan Region alone has an unsold inventory of nearly 3.5 lakh flats

[ https://indianexpress.com/article/india/3-5-lakh-flats-unsold-in-mumbai-metropolitan-region-report-4929533/  ]

I suppose , all over India , there must be millions of such “ Un-utilized Assets “ where investments worth lakhs of crore of rupees is lying idle / unproductive

For Mumbai Region alone , I had estimated such “ Idle Assets “ at Rs 20 lakh*crore !

Which made me suggest following solution :

Ready to be Ridiculed  [  23  Aug 2017  ]

Ritesh,

By your innovative business idea, you will disrupt the “ Rental Housing “ market by turning it into a formal / organized sector and , in the process , solving a major hurdle for cross-country migration of professionals

How about :

·         examining my suggestion to disrupt the BPO market ?

·         finding some commercially profitable use for some 1.3 million schools in the country which are utilized only for ( max ) 10 hours per day ?

Can you think of some way to utilize those billions of square feet of space which remains idle for 14 hours in a day ?

03  Nov  2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs  

Better Late than Never !

Supreme Court orders seizure of 15 year old petrol vehicles , 10 year old diesel variants in Delhi

Apex court kills the ignition of nearly a third of NCR’s vehicles

VEHICLE  POPULATION of  Delhi  :

Vehicles facing impounding            =    37,91,917

Petrol Vehicles less than 15  years  =    67,67,897

Diesel Vehicles less than 10 years   =      5,24,487

Total  Vehicles                               =    1,10,84301 

In 2016 alone , some 10 lakh new vehicles got added . Assume 11 lakhs in 2017 and 12 lakhs in 2018

May be some 4 lakh vehicles are becoming older than 15 years of age , year after year and will need to be scrapped

   

PAST  INTERVENTIONS :

In 2015, The National Green Tribunal had banned such vehicles

In 2016 , NGT had asked the authorities ( RTO ? ) to de-register all 10 year old diesel vehicles in the capital . In an appeal against this , SC refused to annul NGT order

CURRENT  ORDERS :

#     To Central Pollution Control Board  [  CPCB  ]

       Immediately create a Social Media web site or account where people could complain

       about air pollution

     

#    To the Government ( State Government ? )

       Impound all OLD vehicles in the NCR

#    To  Transport  Department

      Publish a list of such vehicles on your web site and also impound them if found on the

      Road. Also publish the list in newspapers. Prevent such vehicles from entering Delhi

    

   

In the meantime , for the next 10 days , EPCA ( Environment Pollution – Prevention and Control – Authority ), has issued following orders :

#     Stop all stone crushers and hot mix plants

#    Stop working of all industries using coal and biomass as fuel

#    Stop all diesel generators ( DG sets )

#    Shut down brick kilns in Haryana, Rajasthan and UP

#    Close down the industrial area of Mundka

#    All Chief Secretaries of the states involved to set up teams to patrol and impose fines

      on violators for garbage burning , industrial air pollution , dust mismanagement and

      visibly polluting vehicles

     

  

QUESTIONS  :

#     Ownership of old vehicles

·         Do current owners of the impounded vehicles still continue to remain as “ owners “ ?

·         If not , ownership passes on to whom ?  To Central / State Govt ?  Municipality  ?

#    Storage of old vehicles

·         Assume each vehicle needs 12 feet x 8 feet = 100 sq ft of storage area

On that basis , 38 lakh vehicles will need 3,530 Hectares of storage yard area

I believe , currently even for its disposal of 10,000 tons of daily garbage , Delhi needs 800 hectares , which it does not have !

Where is Authority going to find 3,530 hectares ? – even if , each year , incoming 3 lakh old vehicles gets balanced out by outgoing ( being scrapped ) 3 lakh vehicles

#    Cost of towing away and storage

·         For towing away each old vehicle , contractor will charge at least Rs 300

Multiply this with 38 Lakh vehicles  !

Annual storage cost will be another Rs 500 per vehicle ( guards / lighting etc )

As per the latest draft manual on municipal solid waste management prepared by the Union Ministry of Urban Development, three million tonnes of waste can be accommodated on 40 ha of land ( keeping in mind that the life of a landfill is 20 years).

Delhi needs 800 ha of land for its garbage dumps alone , which would cost Rs 80,000 crore going by the present circle rate !

How much money will be required for 3,530 hectares ? To be raised by taxes ?

#    Disposal

·         If ownership still vests with the current owners then do authorities have any right to dispose off the vehicles ( ie : sell to scrap dealers ? )

·         If yes , do authorities have to credit current owners’ account with the sale-proceeds ?

·         If ownership gets automatically transferred to the “ Authorities “ , how is it supposed to dispose off these vehicles so that these do nor “ re-appear “ on the roads after a few weeks ?

#     Why scrap entire vehicle  ?  Why not retrofit  ?

·         In an OLD vehicle,

Only “ Polluting Sub Assembly “ is the ENGINE

Other “ Non-Polluting Sub Assemblies “ are :

 Body – Chasis – Transmission – Tyres etc

So , why SCRAP those non-polluting parts ?

Why not just scrap the old engine and retro-fit the vehicle with a brand NEW engine ( BS VI compliant )  ?

That will mean re-utilizing some 80 % of the asset and , at the same time getting rid of the air pollution !

·         If the SC insists that the entire OLD vehicle must be scrapped , then the questions are :

#   How many years will it take them to finish this mammoth job ?

#   Scrapping will use Oxy-Acetylene torches for cutting the vehicles . Will that not

     Add tremendously to Delhi’s air pollution ?

#      Impact on Employment

·         Even if we assume that some 28 lakh ( out of these 38 lakh old ) vehicles are “ Owner Driven “ , then the remaining 10 lakh must be driven by employed drivers

From today , they will be without a job !

#      Supreme Court of New Delhi  ?

        In one of my earlier blog ( dt 11 May 2016 ) , I wrote :

·         Is air pollution only affecting the people of Delhi ?

·         Is it not as bad in cities like Mumbai / Kolkata / Chennai / Bangalore etc ?

·         Why are MLAs of these States not enacting laws to control pollution ?

·         Why is Supreme Court passing orders ( diesel vehicles / taxies ) only for Delhi ?

·         Does Supreme Court think that citizens of these other cities are immune to the ill

          effects of pollution caused by diesel vehicles ?

·         Why are State Legislatures happy to " pass the buck " to Supreme Court ?

       That is " Abdication of Responsibility " !

References :

PIYUSH PLAN  ?   ………………………………………… [  27  March  2016  ]

Retiring Old Vehicles - Gadkari Style ? ………. [  30  May   2016   ]

Young or Old ?  ………………………………………………[  27  Aug  2016    ]

From OLD to NEW ?  No , go NEWER !  ……….[  22  Sept   2016   ]

Building Castles in the Air ?   ………………………..[  12  March  2017  ]

Best out of a Bad Bargain ?  ………………………….[  29  March  2017  ]

Car Grave-Yard of World ?  ……………………………[    14  Feb  2018    ]

One door closes  ;  Another opens   ……………..[   27  Feb  2018     ]

Mahindra Accelo : Saluting a pioneer  …………..[  19  June  2018    ]

 

Scrapping Old Vehicles : Swiss Challenge Solution  [  24  July  2018  ]

01    Nov  2018

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs